ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has categorically rejected baseless and misguidedremarks made by the Official Spokesperson of the Indian Ministry ofExternal Affairs in an effort to politicize the China- Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC).
In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said the CPEC isa transformational project and a harbinger of stability, mutual cooperationand shared development for the region. As a flagship of the Belt and RoadInitiative and hallmark of the Pakistan-China All-Weather StrategicCooperative Partnership, CPEC provides a vehicle for the people of theregion to break from zero-sum approaches.
He said China’s investment in CPEC has helped Pakistan overcome the energyand infrastructural bottlenecks that once constrained growth anddevelopment.
Asim Iftikhar said attempts to cast aspersions over CPEC show India’sinsecurity as well as the pursuit of a hegemonic agenda that has held backsocio-economic development in South Asia for decades.
While rejecting India’s fallacious assertion that CPEC impinges on its“sovereignty and territorial integrity”, it is pointed out that it is infact India that is illegally occupying the state of Jammu & Kashmir forover seven decades while perpetrating gross and widespread human rightsviolations and effectuating blatant territorial and demographic changes inthe occupied territory in complete contravention of international law andrelevant UNSC resolutions.
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The spokesperson said India’s attempts to mislead the internationalcommunity about the status of Jammu and Kashmir and to hide its atrocitiesagainst the Kashmiri people will never succeed. He said India is cautionedto desist from falsehoods and baseless claims over a territory that itcontinues to illegally occupy through brute force.
Asim Iftikhar said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains an internationallyrecognized dispute on the UN agenda and its solution lies in exercise ofthe right of self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN SecurityCouncil resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
